She was standing in line at the 7-Eleven, she was picking up the usual on a Friday night.

She could smell the hot dogs being heat up in the machine, she could see them turning and roasting. She enjoyed the smell of these hot dogs. 

Her usual Friday night order. A cheese hot dogs, popcorn and an extra-large Slurpee. It was going to be a long night. 

A woman in a red sweater stood next to her, the woman had a nice round face and for some reason, she just started talking to the woman. 

I went to class and saw some I had not seen in a very long time. It brought back so many memories it was out of the ordinary for me. We met a really long time ago, we were so young and inexperienced we did not know what we wanted out of life and we were trying to just find ourselves. It hit me today when I heard his voice, I have always wonder if he still remembers me. I do not know what has happened in his life but it brought tears and laughter and feeling I thought were not there anymore. When we met we thought we wanted the same things it turned out we did not and now we are in the same place, geographically speaking, and I wonder what will be the next thing, he might be married and have a happy family. The woman in the red sweater looked at me and smile. 

Roberto was heavy eyed and yearning  for a coffee.  He had about five minutes of extra time to run into 7/11 and grab a coffee before he got on the highway headed for work.  He whipped his navy blue Subaru Outback into a parking space and noticed a long line with one cashier as he opened the brown steel and glass doors. He was instantly nauseated by the pungent scent of hot dogs; which to him, was too much to handle at 7am on a hot August morning.  He looked at the only cashier, a lanky teenage dark skinned black boy with an old school box haircut , who had to wait on a long line of straight faced, tired people that fed into the candy isle.  “Fuck it, I don’t care if I’m late.  I need coffee”, he thought to himself.  He rushed over to the coffee pots and grabbed a 16 oz gold paper coffee cup.  He welcomed the nutty aroma of the coffee as the steam crawled up his nose.  He instinctively swung his navy blue tie around his left shoulder as he poured his coffee.  He then walked to the back of the candy isle to join the line.  “OK, there are only about 6 people in front of me.  God, hurry the hell up people”, he thought to himself.

Just then, he heard a young woman’s voice pleading, ” Ma’m, sir, excuse me… Ma’m…” .  Roberto turned around and noticed a middle-aged light skinned (“Or was she maybe Puerto Rican?”, Robert wondered to himself) black woman directly behind him turning back to look at a teenage Asian girl.  The young Asian girl, who was a petite girl dressed in a McDonald’s uniform, was holding a bottle of anti-freeze in her hands and addressed both the woman directly in front of her and Roberto with an urgent tone, “Can I please cut in front of you if you are not in a hurry? I am going to be late for work!”  She raised her eyebrows and rocked her  hips back and forth as she spoke.  The middle aged woman in front of her put her hand on her hip, scowled her eyebrows and shouted “Like we all don’t have someplace to go!” She then looked at Roberto and said, “I guess some of us have all day to stand in this damn line because we have nothing better to do!”  Roberto noticed the panic on the young girl’s face.  She was flushed and holding the heavy anti-freeze bottle in one hand and and wiping the long bangs from her eyes that fell out of her pony tail with the other.  “I really don’t mind”, said Robert, shrugging his shoulders while looking at the woman behind him.  “Well I do mind! I am not letting people jump in line! Maybe I am running late.  Did you think about that? Probably not because you are only concerned with miss little cute thing here!”, exclaimed the middle aged woman.  “Relax”, said Robert as he waved his flat palm up and down.  “I was just trying to help her out”. “Well, why don’t you help me out.  Where she has to be is more important that where I have to be?’, asked the woman, with her brown eyes wide open, searing Roberto’s face.  “if I’m late I will get fired!”, commanded the girl.  “Well maybe your ass should get up and leave earlier in the morning! How about that?”  snarled the woman, before she sucked her straight white teeth.  “My God, what will it take, a minute for her to pay for that bottle?”, asked Robert, as he squinted his eyes, speaking to the woman.  “No, it will probably take about an extra hour!  This damn cashier they have working here is so damn stupid! He probably can’t even count to ten and they have him working here by himself!”

At that moment, another cashier appeared behind the counter.  “Next in line!” shouted the cashier.  Robert noticed that he was next.  He turned to the girl and pointed to the cashier and said “Go ahead, you go”.  The girl frantically ran up to the counter and slammed the anti-freeze on the counter.  “That ain’t fair!”, yelled the woman.  “No worries, this fine young man that has been efficiently handling the register since we got here will have us out in no time”, said Roberto, as he smirked and winked at the young black man.  As Roberto was inserting his debit card into the register, the young girl nudged his sleeve as she was scurrying out and said “Thank you!”  She then looked at the woman who was standing behind Roberto and said, “Karma is going to be good to everyone today!”  Roberto smiled at the young black man, as he took his receipt and said, “Well, some of us will have a great day!”  “Yea”, said the young man, smiling and nodding his head.  “Some of us!”

Jenny was standing in 7-Eleven with her hands full when she realized she had forgotten to make a cup of coffee. With no basket and unable to place her items on the counter due to the person ahead of her being checked out, she turned to look at the person behind her. She noticed they only had a bag of chips.

“I’m sorry, do you mind holding these for me,” she desperately asked. If jenny didn’t get her daily cup of coffee she would not be able to put on a kind face. “I just forgot to get coffee,” she tried explaining herself. The older woman looked at her strangely before speaking.

“I don’t even know you,” she spoke. Jenny couldn’t help but feel ashamed as the woman looked at her. For the first time Jenny noticed a little girl tugging and the shirt of the lady. She smiled at the child right before the lady softly slapped her hand of her and pushed her slightly behind her. “Why don’t you just get a cart,” the lady asked. She turned to say something to the little girl.

“There are no baskets,” Jenny stuttered, but the lady was still talking to the girl and did not say a word to her when she straightened up. “Do you mind holding my spot in line then? I’ll be super quick,” she tried addressing the lady again.

“Look just pay for the coffee when it’s your turn and go make it after your things are in a bag. I can’t hold all of this I also have to watch my,” she paused, saying this part much more quietly. “My child,” the lady looked away from Jenny and towards outside. Jenny felt bad. She felt as if the woman was praying to get away from her. She turned around and resumed her spot in the line. The woman ahead of her was taking a long time deciding between getting a Reese’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup or the White chocolate version.

“Why don’t you get both,” Jenny mumbled under her breath but the woman heard her and turned around.

“If you’re wondering, I don’t have enough for both,” she said before turning back around to continue her decision making process. Jenny let out a sigh. Of course she would find herself in this position stuck between two intolerable people. In fact, she didn’t even want these things anymore. She got off the line and threw the stuff onto a random shelf in the aisle behind her and left the store. She would get coffee elsewhere.